Box Score Box score

Glassboro, NJ … The College of New Jersey football team celebrated its final game on schedule with their best defensive effort of the season shutting out Rowan University 7-0 in Glassboro, NJ.
 
It was an unconventional seven points for the Lions as they blocked a punt that resulted in a safety, kicked a short field goal, and registered a second safety late in the fourth quarter to win the game.
 
That was all the points TCNJ's defense would need, however, as they held the Profs (5-5, 5-4 NJAC) to 183 total yards on offense. The Lions (7-3, 6-3 NJAC) secured their seventh win of the season and first against the Profs since 2007. It was also shutout victory for the Lions since blanking Kean University 7-0 last November.
 
The game remained scoreless midway through the second period before sophomore Sean Clark (Mays Landing, NJ/St. Joseph's Hammonton) blocked a punt at the Rowan 17-yard line. The ball was recovered by a Rowan player, but then tackled out of bounds in his end zone by seniors Michael Lambert (Holmdel, NJ/Holmdel) and John Kinzel (Howell, NJ/Red Bank Catholic) for the safety. That gave TCNJ a 2-0 lead with 4:01 remaining in the first half.
 
Late in the third period, junior defensive end Patrick Kimball (Seaville, NJ/Ocean City) forced a fumble that was recovered by junior James Siracusa (New Providence, NJ/New Providence) at the Rowan 23-yard line. An eight-yard run by senior quarterback Jay Donoghue (Shamong, NJ/Seneca) set up a 20-yard field goal by senior Tyler Olsson (Kendall Park, NJ/South Brunswick) and the Lions lead stretched to 5-0.
 
The ball would change hands nine times in the final period, which included a pair of TCNJ turnovers. Rowan never got past its own 17-yard line, however, and was held to zero yards on 14 plays by the Lions defense. The Profs were flagged in the end zone for holding with 3:45 remaining in the game, which resulted in TCNJ's second safety of the game.
 
Leading that defensive charge was sophomore linebacker Nick Bricker (Middletown, NJ/Middletown South). He posted a team-high 12 tackles in the game and finished the season 112, just one shy of the program record for tackles in a season. That record is held by James Riley who had 113 tackles in 1996. Rick Anseaume also had 112 takedowns in 1982. Bricker also had 3.5 tackles for a loss of 18 yards in the game, which included a sack for a loss of seven yards.
 
Lambert and junior Greg Burns (Hamilton, NJ/Hamilton West) also had 12 tackles for TCNJ. They combined for three tackles for a loss of 14 yards. Kinzel finished with nine tackles and two tackles for a loss of nine yards.
 
Donoghue was efficient on offense completing 22-of-34 pass attempts for 157 yards. Joe Falco (Ocean, NJ/Ocean Twp.) rushed for 77 yards and also had seven receptions for 53 yards. Junior Matthew Rosati (Bayonne, NJ/Bayonne) had five catches for 49 yards.
 
The win was the 208^th for head coach Eric Hamilton as he registered the 22^nd winning season of his career.